


All Souls Night

by darkagechan



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Universe, Festivals, Gen, Gift, One Shot, Other, Pre-Canon, Set in year 843, She/Her Pronouns For Hange, as hot summer is gradually giving in to early autumn, imagine being in a street surrounded by music lanterns food in late summer, yeah those cool and beautiful evenings with a nostalgic vibe, yep that's the mood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-24 21:56:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20365726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkagechan/pseuds/darkagechan
Summary: Happy birthday tojaegerbroshoe!I made a playlist featuring Loreena McKennitt's songs, which I listened to while writing this fic and that inspired me the mood for it; I suggest listening to it while reading the story!The title itself comes from one of my favourite songs of this very talented singer!https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIULRk2wHkx2N-ciuA5OdUiSE5nlQKpYYMy Tumblr:the-not-so-dark-age





	All Souls Night

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday to [jaegerbroshoe](https://jaegerbroshoe.tumblr.com)!  
I made a playlist featuring Loreena McKennitt's songs, which I listened to while writing this fic and that inspired me the mood for it; I suggest listening to it while reading the story!  
The title itself comes from one of my favourite songs of this very talented singer!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIULRk2wHkx2N-ciuA5OdUiSE5nlQKpYY
> 
> My Tumblr: [the-not-so-dark-age](https://the-not-so-dark-age.tumblr.com)

Lanterns and bonfires were illuminating the sky, taking the sun’s role as it was falling beyond the Walls; day fading into night, the cool air was dense of flowers, homemade cakes and rustic delicacies made on the streets. Chatters and laughs filled the atmosphere, as pleasing as leaves in the wind.

The Late Summer festival always stayed the same, but every year it astounded more and more the little Eren, who apparently wasn’t able to stay still next to his mother’s skirt anymore.

(no, he had never been able at all in the first place).

“Eren, where are you going?! You’ll get lost!! Why can’t you behave well like your friend Armin?!” were Carla’s - useless - words.

“Let him go and explore, Carla. The market is surveilled by the Garrison and Hannes!”

“Oh, one more reason to let him freely roam”

She had a point, damn.

“Eren, you can go around without us but do not sneak away from Armin, do you understand?”

“Yes dad! C’mon Armin!”

§§§

“Why can’t my mother just let me go! Your granpda isn’t as boring! It’s not like the market will kill me, or like I’ll escape from these damn Walls! This place is so boring! My mother is so bor-”

“Oh! Look at this weird fish Eren! The scales are so green!”

Wandering in the street market didn’t have the expected, soothing effect on Eren; rather, the child was still quite annoyed and upset by the tangle with his mother.

Armin couldn’t be fazed by his friend’s pout in the least, especially not while contemplating such a big, strange creature right in front of him.

“What kind of species does it belong to in your opinion? I can’t really say…”

“Where you even listening to me?!?”

Finally, Armin diverted his brilliant gaze from the stall to focus on Eren, a shameful look on his round face.

“A-actually, and t-to be frankly honest…no…d-do you want to repeat everything?”

Eren sighed loudly.

“Just say you weren’t interested in what I said”

“I’m not interested in what you said…nor you should be son angry. It’s Late Summer festival! C’mon, let’s have fun! My grandpa will have to leave for work for some months in autumn and I’ll go with him…and we won’t see each other until spring…please, Eren?”

Armin was blushing furiously as he pleaded Eren; he did feel a bit selfish, but couldn’t really waste that night.

Seeing his friend so troubled, Eren eventually calmed down: Armin was right, it was perhaps the last occasion to have fun together before the long winter months…and now that he thought of it, the festival didn’t seem so boring anymore.

“S-sorry Eren for my selfish request…”

“No! I was the one being selfish, sorry for ruining the mood! Now, let me see that strange fish!”

Just as fast as Eren got angry by Carla’s reproach, his mood cheered up, the ease with which you forget things as a child.

§§§

As night went on, Armin and Eren had inspected almost every stall. shop and puppet show that could be found along the bright festival market.

When there was no sign of the day anymore in the dark sky, the kids finally started to feel the weariness after hours of wandering, roving, running, eating and laughing (many years later, his hair long and dirty, his leg cute and his covered, his innocence lost, looming in Liberio suburbs, Eren would have thought how it was once possible he even felt tired of laughing). 

They both knew what would have come next, but only Eren found the courage to speak:

“We’ve seen everything…and it’s late…I fear we should go back, Armin”

“Mh. You’re right…”

Walking backwards in the street had a sad, nostalgic taste for the boys: where they had passed earlier, they no lnoger saw bright colours, fragrant snacks and extravagant animals: everything had lost its vitality, a grey fog had fallen upon the festival as their enthusiasm burned out into melancholy of their time together that was ending, just like the summer.

“I hate this festival.”

“You know what, Eren? Me too…”

“You listened to me this time, finally.”

The children laughed - an emptier laugh, not enough to revive the street or the interest for the place around them, too joyful and distant from them now.

§§§

The sad parade stopped beside a little fountain, perfectly matched with the surrounding square, paved in many, tiny red and beige tiles. Right on the other side of the fountain, there was another puppet show going on; this one had aslo many adults among the public and everyone seemed so taken and mesmerized by the story, whatever it was.

Not that it could catch Eren’s and Armin’s attention at this point of the evening.

Nothing was worthy anymore.

Not even a weird woman, with even weirder glasses, stumbling in the fountain behind them, followed by a young man immediately catching her, covering her wet figure with his jacket and a worried scolding.

“Squad Leader! You drank too much! Again!”

“Don’t try to scold me, Mom-blit! Eh eh eh eh!”

In front of such a show, a very disappointed Eren whispered to a quite confused Armin:

“Those two must be some drunken Garrison soldiers for sure! And these should be the people protecting us from titans!”

“Eren, please, don’t get started again…”

“Do not worry, child. She’ll be sober again for tomorrow’s expedition.”

Eren and Armin almost jumped on their feet as a deep male voice startled them. They had to raise their heads very high to see the face belonging to the man who had just spoken, and even higher to look at his moustached friend next to him.

“Expedition?”

The man spoke again:“Yes. We are Survey Corps soldiers. Do you fear so much an attack from titans?”

The words may have sounded mocking coming from someone else, but a serious and piercing gaze accompanied them.

“C’mon man! Shut up and help me getting those two boozers instead of questioning random kids!”

The austere man didn’t bring far the conversation with the boys, turning instead to his friend.

As the quartet was leaving the square, cheers and astonished exclamations were coming from the audience of the puppet theatre nearby: a certain character had done some amazing deed. The noise was loud enough to make Armin shift towards the show, but Eren’s attention had been caught by the bizarre group of soldiers. 

He suddenly stood and quickly walked to them.

“What are your names, sirs?”

The man who had talked to them earlier assumed a lighter expression, something that his friends could have compared to one of his rare smirks, as he nodded the puppet scene.

“If you’re so curious, go watch that show. We shall go now, sorry for disturbing you and your friend.”

“Whart? But-”

“Eren! Eren! Come, the show is about Shadis’ best soldiers, those two young Squad Leaders everyone talks about!”

Armin had come and dragged Eren in front of the little stage; four little puppets were being moved from a side to the other, surrounded by painted trees and paper titans.

Eren immediately recognized each of them.

“Thanks to a clever attack by the brilliant Squad Leader Hanji and her faithful assistant Moblit, the brave Squad Leader Erwin and Humanity’s Strongest Mike can wipe out the last titans! And the fearless soldiers can gloriously come back in the Walls!”

Hanji. Moblit. Erwin. Mike

“I’ll become like them someday! I’ll defeat titans and people will be happy! We won’t have to be caged birds anymore, no more like the puppets of those monsters…Maybe they’ll make shows about me too? What do you think of it Armin? Doesn’t it sound great!”

§§§

The puppet show was almost over.

“Our valiant heros are defeated, but it is not a final victory for the evil soldiers of the enemy! Braver warriors will put an end to the ferocious titan and his malevolent people!”

Audience started appluding for the fallen soldiers, their amazing actions still alive in commoners’ memory, even after four years.

“The mad Eren and the devils of Paradis won’t win against the resolution of Marley!”

An even bigger ovation came from the public.

This wasn’t the kind of show Eren dreamt of being protagonist of, many years ago.


End file.
